Cecily Clark (1926-1992) is familiar to medievalists as editor of the Peterborough Chronicle; others will know her work in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Middle English studies, in particular her extensive researches in medieval English onomastics. She lectured at the universities of London, Edinburgh and Aberdeen before settling in Cambridge as Research Fellow of, successively, Newnham College and Clare Hall. She was past joint editor of Nomina, a Council member of the English Place-Name Society, and a member of the International Committee of Onomastic Sciences.

This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format. The fascinating and informative Dictionary of First Names covers over 6,000 names in common use in English, including the very newest names as well as traditional names. From Alice to Zanna and Adam to Zola this book will answer all your questions: it will tell you the age, origin, and meaning of the name, as well as how it has fared in terms of popularity, and who the famous fictional or historical bearers for the name have been. It covers alternative spellings, short forms and pet forms, and masculine and feminine forms, as well as help with pronunciation. The book includes extensive appendices covering names from languages including Scottish, Irish, French, German, Italian, Arabic, and Chinese names. Tables of the most popular names by year and by region are also included. From the traditional to the rare and unconventional, this book will tell you everything you need to know about names.

An introduction and research guide to onomastics, this book covers the major areas of name study in individual chapters on personal names, place names, acronyms, brand names and trade names. Every topic comprises a discussion of underlying principles as well as numerous illustrative examples.

Bringing together fifteen articles by scholars in Europe and North America, this collection aims to represent and advance studies in historical lexis. It highlights the significance of the understanding of dictionary-making and language-making as important socio-cultural phenomena. With its general focus on England and English, the book investigates the reception and development of historical and modern English vocabulary and culture in different periods, social and professional strata, geographical varieties of English, and other national cultures. The volume is based on individual (meta)lexicographical, etymological, lexicosemantic and corpus studies, representing two large areas of research: the first part focuses on the history of dictionaries, analysing them in diachrony from the first professional dictionaries of the Baroque period via Enlightenment and Romanticism to exploring the possibilities of the new online lexicographical publications; and the second part looks at the interfaces between etymology, semantic development and word-formation on the one hand, and changes in society and culture on the other.

Successful word-coinages--those that stay in currency for a good long time--tend to conceal their beginnings. We take them at face value and rarely when and where they were first minted. Engaging, illuminating, and authoritative, Ralph Keyes's The Hidden History of Coined Words explores the etymological underworld of terms and expressions and uncovers plenty of hidden gems. He also finds some fascinating patterns, such as that successful neologisms are as likely to be created by chance as by design. A remarkable number of new words were coined whimsically, originally intended to troll or taunt. Knickers, for example, resulted from a hoax; big bang from an insult. Casual wisecracking produced software, crowdsource, and blog. More than a few resulted from happy accidents, such as typos, mistranslations, and mishearing (bigly and buttonhole), or from being taken entirely out of context (robotics). Neologizers (a Thomas Jefferson coinage) include not just scholars and writers but cartoonists, columnists, children's book authors. Wimp originated with a book series, as did goop, and nerd from a book by Dr. Seuss. Coinages are often contested, controversy swirling around such terms as gonzo, mojo, and booty call. Keyes considers all contenders, while also leading us through the fray between new word partisans, and those who resist them strenuously. He concludes with advice about how to make your own successful coinage. The Hidden History of Coined Words will appeal not just to word mavens but history buffs, trivia contesters, and anyone who loves the immersive power of language.